Optimize a PDF for the Web
Putting a PDF on a website? Turn on Fast Web View so visitors see the first page straight away instead of waiting for the whole file.
How to optimize a PDF for the web
- 1
Choose the PDF
Pick the file you want to put online. It is processed on your device.
- 2
Click Optimize for web
Fast Web View is switched on and the file is tidied up losslessly.
- 3
Upload it to your site
Download the optimized copy and replace the old file on your website.
What Fast Web View does
A normal PDF keeps its page index at the end, so a browser has to download the whole file before it can show anything. A linearized PDF, which Adobe calls Fast Web View, puts everything page 1 needs at the very start, so the first page appears while the rest is still arriving.
For a large brochure or menu opened on a phone, that's the difference between seeing something in a second and staring at a blank screen. To check a file, open it in Adobe Acrobat or Reader and look for Fast Web View: Yes under File > Properties.
What it doesn't do
It doesn't change how the pages look, and it isn't compression. The file may come out a little smaller because it's repacked tidily, but if size is the problem, use Compress PDF first and optimize afterwards.
The speed-up needs a web server that can send part of a file on request. Most can, including Apache, Nginx, Amazon S3 and most hosting services. It makes no difference to PDFs sent by email, because those are always downloaded in full.
Your files never leave your device
Your PDF is processed on your own device, so it's never uploaded.
Many online PDF sites send your file to their servers, work on it there, and keep a copy for a while. PilotPDF does the work in your browser instead. The page loads the code it needs, and your file is opened and processed on your own device. The file itself is never sent to us, so there is no copy on our side to store, leak or delete.
Read more about how this works in our privacy-by-design explainer.